Q, A & MR 3 - Courtship Rituals - B/S - J/f
by Kylia
Summary: Jim & Blair have guests for dinner


**TITLE: Courtship Rituals (1/1)  
SERIES: Questions, Answers and Mysteries Revealed (Part 3)  
AUTHOR: Kylia (kylia_bug@yahoo.com)  
DISCLAIMER: Nobody belongs to me, unfortunately. They belong to Pet Fly, and a few other people I don't know.  
ARCHIVE: Yes. My site (http://kyliasworld.cjb.net), List archives, anywhere else, let me know where, and it's yours.  
RATING: R  
PAIRING: Blair/Simon; Jim/ofc  
CATEGORY: Romance; First time; Holiday;  
SPOILERS: If you've watched the show, your set. :)   
WARNINGS: None really.  
SUMMARY: Jim & Blair have guests for dinner  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a bit different. I've never written this pairing before.  
AUTHOR'S NOTES 2: This takes place about a year after the end of the series, accept that that TSbBS never happened.   
FEEDBACK: Please. My muses need to be fed, or I'll go find someone else to play with instead :)  
DEDICATION: To Butterfly, & everyone who likes this. And of course, to Liz & Kaite, as always J  
********** **

"Are you sure it isn't any trouble?" Rhianna Worth asked for the third time since Blair had extended the invitation.

Blair smiled. "Really. Consider it my thank you for helping me out with all of this" He waved his hands around his new office, "stuff."

Rhianna smiled. "It's been a pleasure. I couldn't afford to lose you."

Blair blushed slightly at the compliment, and the sincerity with which it was delivered. The telephone ringing interrupted the anthropologist's rebuttal.

"Hello?" He asked into the receiver.

"Chief?" Jim's familiar voice drifted through the line.

"Jim, hey." He turned around to the chancellor and winked, although she was too busy examining his rare books to notice.

"Hey, I was wondering if you're still cooking tonight."

Something in Jim's tone alerted Blair to some sort of ulterior motive. "Yeah. Eggplant Parmesan, just like I said." He replied cautiously. "Why?"

Jim hesitated momentarily. "Daryl's gone for the weekend and I thought"

"Sure, bring him home." Blair answered, understanding Jim's question before it was uttered. "I invited someone to dinner myself."

Silence pervaded the air as Jim assimilated this piece of information. "Oh?" He asked nervously.

"Yeah, Chancellor Worth. You met her at the awards last week."

Jim breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh yeah. She seemed nice enough."

"She is." Blair assured him in a sentinel-soft whisper, aware that the topic of their conversation was still in the room. "You'll like her." 

Blair finished the conversation and hung up the phone. When he turned to face the chancellor he noticed she was looking through one of his books. His important books.

"You know Burton?" Blair asked quietly, not wanting to disturb her concentration. She didn't seem anything like any university administrator he had ever met. And he'd met plenty.

Rhianna turned around. "Only by reputation." She grinned at him.

"You follow his work?" Blair pressed, curious. Most administration members needed charts and graphs to understand his work, much less recognize the name of a long dead explorer.

"I read your dissertation." Rhianna confessed. "For fun."

Blair's eyes widened. That was unusual. While someone in Chancellor Worth's position could easily have access to Blair's dissertation. It was unlikely she would want to take the time to get such access, and even more unlikely that she would read and understand it.

Blair lost his humor and comfortable feeling when he realized what exactly was both the basis of his thesis and the point of interest for Rhianna Worth. It was next to impossible to link Jim back to his research, the way he had ended up presenting it. But the idea of someone, who claimed to know Sir Richard Burton's work being interested in Jim, was slightly disconcerting.

"For fun?" Blair asked carefully.

Rhianna turned away from Blair and picked up another book. When she spoke it was with an odd note in her voice.

"Do you really know any? Sentinels, I mean?"

Blair stared at her silently for a minute. When he walked across the room and stood in front of her, she lifted her head and he saw something that hadn't been in her dark eyes before. Fear.

Suddenly everything he had been thinking a few minutes ago flew out the window at a frantic pace. His mind started tripping over itself, and new ideas began to pop forward.

Taking a deep breath, Blair responded. "Yes, I've met people with hyperactive senses."

Rhianna's eyes widened slightly, but in relief not astonishment. She nodded. "That's good, Blair. Really good."

Suddenly, whatever secret conversation they were having disappeared. Rhianna straightened. "Well, I have to get back to the office." Making her way towards the door, the chancellor smiled. "What time to you want me to come over?"

"Seven-thirty." Blair responded automatically.

"Great. I'll bring wine." 

She disappeared out of his office door before Blair could even say goodbye, leaving the anthropologist to wonder what exactly had just transpired.

**** 

Blair was just putting the garlic bread in the oven when the front door to the loft opened. He looked over his shoulder and smiled broadly when he saw Jim walk in with Simon behind him.

"Hey, you're here. Dinner should be ready in about half."

"Great." Jim smiled as he hung up their coats. "I'm gonna go change." He disappeared before Blair could comment.

Simon walked towards the kitchen, a brown paper bag in his hands. "I brought this." He handed it over and waited for Blair to open it.

Blair opened the bag and his eyes grew wide as he pulled out a six-pack of bottles. The bottles were dark, almost black with a diamond-shaped label, proclaiming the brand.

"Xingu Black Beer?" Blair asked incredulously. "Where'd you get this?"

Simon shrugged. "You like it?"

Blair grinned as he took two bottles out of the container and put the rest of the six-pack in the fridge. "Do I ever. Man, this is great." He enthused as he handed a bottle to Simon.

Simon popped the top and took a pull of the beer. Blair watched him closely as the first taste the Brazilian brew was swallowed. Simon's eyes widened slightly and his features made this odd little expression. Blair couldn't help but laugh.

"You actually drink this stuff?" Simon sputtered.

Blair grinned. "An acquired taste, huh?"

"You could say that." Simon shook his head and despite his complaint, took another swig.

Blair was still chuckling to himself as Jim came down the stairs, in a pair of comfortable jeans and a T-shirt. He made his way directly to the front door, obviously hearing somebody out there before anyone else did.

He waited a beat, and then there was a knock. He waited another minute and then opened it.

Chancellor Worth was standing on the other side, holding a bottle of wine and an odd expression on her face.

"Chancellor?" Jim asked, concerned at the bewildered look she was sporting.

The chancellor shook her head, as if to clear it. "Detective, how nice to see you again." She smiled broadly and the room seemed to brighten a bit. "Call me Rhianna, please." She handed the bottle of wine to Jim and came inside.

Jim brought the wine into the kitchen, his mind trying to place the look on her face the moment he opened the door. It was almost familiar, but not.

"Chancellor Rhianna, I'm glad you could come." Blair smiled as he began to set the table. "You remember Jim." He said with a wink that both Rhianna and Jim missed but Simon caught.

"And this, is our Captain, Simon Banks." Blair introduced Rhianna to Simon with a slight wave.

Rhianna smiled at him as he shook her hand.

"You know, Chief, there's something not altogether smart about introducing one of your bosses to the other." Jim chuckled, just loud enough for Blair to hear.

Blair thought about that for a second and then laughed. "This from the man who flaunts new love interests in front of the Ex?" Blair shook his head.

Jim thought about that as he helped Blair finish setting the table. Blair was right. He wasn't exactly an expert at courtship rituals. But then he wasn't the one being courted, right?

Once everything was set they sat down to eat. It was kind of strange at first. Things seemed a little strangled. What normally would have seemed like an ordinary dinner, seemed to have some sort of unknown undertones to it, but then Blair started talking, and everything seemed to fall away as the anthropologist related various tales of his travels and tribes he had studied.

After dinner, Blair insisted everyone take a seat in the living room while he cleaned up. Once that was finished, he found himself gravitating towards the balcony for a little fresh air.

Despite the cold December weather, the crispness of it was a relief, after the heat of the oven-warmed kitchen. He didn't know how long he was standing out there, when he heard the sound of a door closing. He turned around and Simon was standing just outside the balcony doors.

"Your plan seems to have worked." He chuckled motioning towards the now empty living room. "Jim and Rhianna went somewhere, to getsomething."

Blair put on his best innocent face. "Plan? What plan?"

Simon stared at the younger man for a second, waiting. Finally Blair shrugged and chuckled. "Well, subtle I'm not, I guess."

A wind flew up at them from the open night sky and Blair shivered as its coolness reached his constantly cold body. He shook his head and made his way inside.

"So, I guess it's just you and me then." Blair asked with a slight grin.

"Yeah." Simon agreed, not certain what it was Blair was implying if anything. 

Blair made his way into his room, looking for a sweater. Simon followed him and was pleased to see the books Blair had received sitting on his desk. Without really paying much attention to his own actions, he entered the small room and picked up one of the books, and then took a long look at the box, which held them.

"They're nice, aren't they?" Blair asked.

When Simon turned to face him, he noticed that Blair had this expression on his face, which mirrored the one he had when he had first opened the gift.

"Yeah." Simon agreed. "Beautiful."

Blair, nearly oblivious to the double meaning of the word, continued. "The box looks to be hand made."

"It was." Simon answered, almost without thinking.

Blair's eyes went wide. "You? You got these? For me?" He was stunned.

Simon stood up a little straighter, suddenly uncharacteristically flustered. "Yeah.

"Wow." Blair exclaimed just before hugging the bigger man. "Thank you."

Simon hugged him back, not really certain what else to do at this point. Despite knowing exactly what he wanted, he wasn't really sure how to proceed.

Blair moved away, almost too quickly for Simon's liking. When he looked up at the anthropologist, he noticed he looked a little embarrassed and was about to say something, although he wasn't sure what, when he noticed a stack of boxes sitting ominously on a small table in the corner of the room.

They seemed like gifts, and for a moment he found himself feeling slightly jealous, but then something about the way they were stacked, sent a tendril of warning to him.

"What are those?" He asked as casually as he could, not wanting to seem intrusive. "Gifts from your latest loves?" 

Blair snorted, but his body had stiffened at the mention of the gifts. "Not likely." He walked over to the boxes and picked the top one up. "This one, " He took the mask out and showed it to Simon. "Came last week. It's from a region in South America that I visited when I was younger." He moved on to the second box, and removed a hand-carved plaque of some sort. "This, is from a tribe that I lived with when I was about thirteen, when Naomi was in one of her 'phases'." He moved to a cylinder-shaped tube and pulled something long and pointed out. "This this is a spear from an area not far from Borneo. It came with this." Blair pulled a piece of paper off of his desk and handed it to Simon.

"It should have been you" Was blazoned across the sheet in bright letters. There was something almost chilling about the scrawled words and their obvious meaning.

"What is all this stuff?" Simon asked growing more concerned by the second.

Blair shrugged. "I don't know. I started getting them about a month ago, but all of a sudden, last week, they stopped. No gifts, no notes. Maybe its over."

"Or maybe who ever it is, is just getting started." Simon reasoned.

Blair nodded. "Maybe." He took the items back and stacked them back on his desk. "Come on, I'm sure we can find *something* else to talk about. Anything else." Blair grinned, although his eyes still seemed concerned.

Simon didn't want to just let this go, but he could see that Blair wasn't ready to talk about it. "Okay."

They walked back out into the living room and Blair put on one of his CD's of some tribal music. It wasn't loud, or even annoying. Simon actually found it kind of soothing.

They sat in the living room, silent for several minutes before Simon spoke. "I noticed that there's a new exhibit at the Natural History museum."

Blair's eyes widened slightly, surprised that Simon would notice something like that. "Yeah." Blair agreed, his blue eyes dancing slightly in excitement, his earlier concern forgotten as he told Simon all about the exhibit.

"Are you planning on going?" Simon asked when there was a break in Blair's monologue.

Blair nodded. "I'd like to."

There was silence for a minute before Simon spoke again. "Maybe we could go next week, baring homicides or terrorist attacks."

Blair nodded enthusiastically. "I'd like that." His eyes clouded over for a second before they cleared again and he pinned Simon with a searching gaze. "Is this a date?"

Simon met his gaze unwaveringly. "If you like."

Blair smiled then and nodded. "I like."

**** 

The End

****

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